Buick has “signed on as the presenting sponsor of a new March Madness postgame show to air on truTV and TBS,” according to Anthony Crupi of MEDIAWEEK. Buick is sponsoring 13 episodes of a half-hour show titled “Inside March Madness Presented by Buick.” The program “tips off on Tuesday, March 15 on truTV, immediately after the Turner net airs the first two games” of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The Buick-sponsored postgame show “should debut at around” 11:30pm ET that night. Coverage of the second round begins March 17 with the 11:00am “Infiniti NCAA Tip-Off” show on truTV, which “will throw to CBS’ Game 1 coverage at noon.” Games will be “staggered in half-hour intervals, providing viewers with an opportunity to watch more live action throughout the frenetic first two weeks of play.” "Inside March Madness" will “jump from truTV to Turner sibling TBS in the Third Round, which begins Saturday, March 19.” A “special edition" of Buick’s postgame show will air on truTV on April 1, “setting the table for the Final Four” on April 2 and 4 (MEDIAWEEK.com, 2/10).
ENGINEERED TO LAST: CABLEFAX DAILY’s Cathy Applefeld Olson noted Infiniti last month signed a “new corporate sponsorship” with the NCAA, and the “broad-reaching relationship includes ‘Inspired Performance’ advertising across the newly formed ESPN-CBS-Turner triumvirate.” Infiniti Senior Manager of Media & Experiential Kathleen Roznowski said there “will be some slight shifting of the messaging from the brand and product standpoint” across the media platforms, but the “main message -- that inspiration is contagious -- will flow through all of our messaging on all networks.” Roznowski: “We started brainstorming with ESPN last summer because we already had a relationship with them and have had a couple years working with them across cable network buys specifically related to basketball. ... The CBS and Turner negotiations did take some time to figure out, in terms of how we were going to put the package together.” Roznowski added Infiniti has “some robust sponsorships around the brackets and will build another online component with another charity element based around the brackets.” Roznowski said the company will be in "a lot of very targeted high-reach digital places" leading up to the start of the NCAA tournament, including CBSSports.com, Yahoo Sports and YouTube (CABLEFAX DAILY, 2/8).
